VIJAYAWADA: Health Minister Y. Satya Kumar Yadav criticised the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, for allegedly misleading people with claims of vote chori and said allegations against the Election Commission without clear evidence were unwarranted.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP state office in Vijayawada, Satya Kumar said attempts were being made to create doubts about constitutional institutions to divert public attention from political setbacks.
He said electoral roll preparation was not a closed-door process, with Booth Level Officers conducting field-level verification.
Explaining the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), he said citizens could file claims and objections after publication of the draft electoral rolls. Form 6 is available for new voter registration, Form 7 for objections or deletion requests and Form 8 for corrections and address changes.
Responding to claims that 13 crore votes had been deleted, the Minister said the figure referred to names excluded from draft rolls during verification and should not be treated as final deletions. These included deceased persons, those who had permanently shifted, duplicate entries and untraceable voters, he said. He also rejected claims that Form 6 had been completely changed.
